Stall Spin

"Let's begin!"

After they got into the plane, Liu Jin suddenly said that from the back seat, leaving Li Zhi a little bewildered.

Begin what? Don't tell me he wants me to fly?

Li Zhi had never imagined he would be asked to fly on his first time in a plane, so he looked back at Liu Jin in confusion.

"What are you looking at me for? Afraid to fly?"

"No!"

But this wasn't a question of whether he dared. This was clearly against the rules.

Li Zhi couldn't worry about that now, though. Afraid Liu Jin would change his mind, he hurriedly switched on the ignition and power, letting the plane run its self-check.

The self-check finished quickly, and Liu Jin showed no intention of contacting the tower. It seemed he really was leaving everything for Li Zhi to handle.

"Number One, 102 is ready. Requesting engine start!"

Number One was the academy's control tower. After all, it wasn't a combat unit, so the academy didn't use any of those miscellaneous code names meant to confuse opponents.

The tower didn't answer Li Zhi immediately. Everyone knew 102 was Instructor Liu Jin's plane, but the voice contacting the tower this time clearly wasn't Liu Jin's.

Was Instructor Liu really letting a student take the controls on his first time? That was against regulations.

But they had no reason to stop them from taking off. The takeoff assignment had been submitted the night before, and it was up to the instructor to decide who flew.

"102, cleared to start!"

After a short wait, the tower gave the signal permitting takeoff.

"Understood. 102 taxiing out!"

He released the brakes and applied throttle in one smooth motion. It was little different from what he did in the simulator.

Liu Jin appeared unconcerned in the back seat, but he was actually extremely nervous. His hands were ready, and if Li Zhi made even the slightest mistake, Liu Jin would immediately override his controls.

Fortunately, Li Zhi had undergone countless takeoff exercises over the past two years. Although they had all been in a simulator, the controls were the same.

Amid a deafening roar, the trainer took to the sky. Its takeoff attitude was so perfect that the people on the ground even thought Liu Jin was flying it.

After the plane took off, Liu Jin relaxed a little. Once takeoff was complete, nothing major would usually go wrong unless the pilot did something suicidal or had bad luck.

At the same time, he grew more and more pleased with Li Zhi. Although operating a real plane was the same as operating a simulator, the mental experience was entirely different.

Being able to take off and land successfully in a simulator didn't mean someone would perform the same way in a real plane.

If he hadn't heard so many stories about Li Zhi, combined with the academy leadership's lavish praise, Liu Jin would never have let Li Zhi fly on his own during his first practical flight.

"Let's see you do a few maneuvers!"

Li Zhi had maintained level flight ever since they got airborne, so Liu Jin told him to do a few maneuvers. They had enough altitude now, so there would be plenty of time to react if he made a mistake.

"Yes, sir!"

How could Li Zhi know any maneuvers? He had never received any maneuver training, so he could only do a few random rolls.

He had only figured out even those rolls after crashing the simulator several times.

Moves like those, which didn't even qualify as basic maneuvers, certainly couldn't impress Liu Jin. Without another word, he took control of the plane.

"Kid, let me show you what real maneuvers look like. What was that stuff you were doing?!"

Liu Jin was actually very satisfied with Li Zhi, but that was always how he spoke. He had a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

After taking control of the plane, Liu Jin immediately performed a continuous rolling maneuver. He had no intention of stopping after just a couple of rolls.

The plane kept rolling through the air, only stopping after it triggered a flight-control warning.

"Answer me right now. Is the sky or the ground above your head?"

Liu Jin hadn't done all those rolls just to show off his skills.

"The ground!"

"Good. When you can't tell the sky from the ground, you can only trust the plane's instruments!"

For fighter pilots, it was easy to become disoriented during routine training or combat and end up flying upside down without realizing it.

At times like that, the only things a pilot could trust were his comrades and his instruments. Liu Jin thought Li Zhi had checked the instruments immediately, and even offered him a rare word of praise.

Little did Liu Jin know, Li Zhi hadn't looked at the instruments at all. His mind had been unusually clear during the rolls, and he had even kept track of how many rotations they had made in total.

Seventeen and a half rotations!

Precisely because of that half rotation, Li Zhi answered without thinking that the plane was now flying upside down.

"Let me take you for something even more thrilling!"

A first flight was usually just a trip up for the experience. Most instructors wouldn't perform overly complicated maneuvers, because doing so would consume a great deal of physical strength!

Perhaps Li Zhi's good performance had piqued Instructor Liu Jin's interest, because he was actually preparing to perform two difficult maneuvers in succession.

Instructor Liu Jin brought the plane back up to altitude. He was preparing to perform a stall maneuver. Although even a low or medium altitude wouldn't have been a problem for him, he still tried to play it safe because there was a student aboard.

Seeing that they had reached the right altitude, Liu Jin shut off the plane's engine.

The plane had been climbing rapidly, but after suddenly losing engine power, its ascent stopped and it began to fall, picking up speed as it went.

Liu Jin didn't rush to recover. Instead, he watched Li Zhi's reaction, but since he couldn't see his face, he didn't know what expression Li Zhi was wearing.

From outward appearances, however, Li Zhi showed no great emotional disturbance, prompting Liu Jin to nod to himself.

A qualified pilot needed more than solid skills. He also needed nerves strong enough to handle any situation that might arise!

At the same time, Liu Jin noticed another thing: after all this time, the kid wasn't even breathing hard, while he himself had worked up a sweat!

It's good to be young!

Liu Jin couldn't help sighing. He had to admit he was getting old!

The control tower on the ground had naturally noticed that the trainer was behaving abnormally, but the staff didn't take any other action, since they could hear the conversation between the two men aboard.

Even so, everyone couldn't help worrying a little. After all, Liu Jin's physical condition was nowhere near what it used to be.

Only those who knew Liu Jin well knew that the Madman Liu they were familiar with was back!

Because no action had been taken for so long, the plane entered the most dangerous kind of stall: a spin!

This happened when a stall wasn't handled effectively and the plane's heading deviated, causing it to sideslip.

At the same time, the sideslip angle increased on its own, gradually causing the wings to rotate and sending the plane into a spin.

And that was exactly what had happened to Li Zhi and Liu Jin's trainer!